‘DDA granted undue benefits to Kathputli Colony redeveloper’

DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday charged the Delhi Development Authority with giving “undue benefits” to the Raheja Developers while granting it a contract in 2011 to redevelop the Kathputli Colony near Shadipur bus depot on public-private partnership basis.

Sharing the DDA Audit Cell report on the Kathputli Colony Redevelopment Project at a press conference on Wednesday, the AAP leader and former investigative journalist Ashish Khetan highlighted portions of the report that said that while no details were given regarding the allotment of the land before award of the contract, later the Rahejas were given prime part of the land towards the main road and Metro line.

As per the contract the developer was to construct 2,800 EWS houses for the DDA against which Rahejas was to receive 0.97 hectares for constructing and disposing 170 housing units for commercial purposes.

“The PPP document issued to the eight pre-qualified developers did not provide any details regarding the 0.97 hectares of free sale area and the commercial plot pertained to developer for constructing the 170 housing units and commercial component respectively,” the DDA Audit Cell had stated.

“Test check of conceptual approval of the architect wing of the DDA revealed that the prime land towards main road/metro line was given/allowed to the developer for constructing 170 housing units. Thus DDA allowed undue benefits for the developer,” said the report about which the senior architect of the DDA also wrote to the Executive Engineer in a letter dated June 30, 2011. Mr. Khetan, the AAP candidate from the New Delhi constituency, accused his Congress opponent and former Minister Ajay Maken of not stopping the scam. He claimed that the Congress had “sold” prime land worth Rs.1,000 to Raheja Developers for a pittance on the pretext of rehabilitation of the Kathputli Colony residents.

Recently the Kathputli Colony issue was in news after over 2,754 families of the total living in the colony started protesting when they were being shifted to transit camps at Anand Parbat where they will spend at least two years, during which the Rahejas are expected to complete the project.

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